The story of the R number: How an obscure epidemiological figure took over our lives. Part 2: Modelling

Abstract

How do you build a complex epidemiological model in record time with little or no reliable data? In the second instalment of his six-part series, Gavin Freeguard describes how different modelling groups in the UK used different data sources and assumptions to try to understand Covid-19 infection rates, and how this diversity proved to be a strength rather than a weakness